Playoff hopes still anchored on Chara

Zdeno Chara posted minuses in five of his final 10 games, throwing into question whether this is still a player who can lead the Bruins back to the pinnacle they experienced together in 2011.

MICK COLAGEO

With the Stanley Cup playoffs starting in three NHL cities tonight and in Boston on Wednesday, there's been a growing concern that Zdeno Chara's star is fading.

As the sheriff of rough and tumble and the longest arm of the law on ice, Chara is a 6-foot-9, 255-pound defenseman whose recent play has looked lethargic or at least error prone.

He rarely seems to have time to unload that record-setting slap shot of his, and when he does goaltenders cradle it in their chest protectors without adventure. His statistics (7-12-19, +14, 119 PIM) were solid, but he posted minuses in five of his final 10 games, throwing into question whether this is still a player who can lead the Bruins back to the pinnacle they experienced together on June 15, 2011, in Vancouver.

Has Chara become Kevin Garnett in black and gold? Giant photos of their sweat-soaked faces share the elevator doors that transport their critics to press level at TD Garden.

Watching Chara from up high, it's been difficult to determine if his recent case of ragged puck play is symptomatic of the condensed schedule, his opponents' familiarity with the Bruins' system in general and his tendencies in particular, his lack of an elite puck-pushing defense partner, the mileage and weight of all that's happened over the past two years, or age (36).

General manager Peter Chiarelli isn't about to concede that Father Time has caught up with his captain.

"Yes, I still think he's at his top level," said Chiarelli, speaking Monday on a conference call. "You've got to look at a good period of time to make that assessment, meaning you just can't judge him on 20 games or 10 games or something like that. At the same time, I would hope that there's guys that will be coming up and improving their games defensively that can ease that pressure on 'Z' because he is at an age when normally performances start to decline. And that's not a knock, that's just simple physics. But he's not simply put together, he's a big strong man who's in terrific shape.

"At some point it will happen, I don't think it's happening now. I think, if you look at the rest of the team, you can see we haven't been firing on all cylinders, but certainly at some point it will happen and we'll deal with it when it does."

Chara has five more years remaining on his second contract with the Bruins at a cap hit of $6.9 million per season, a deal he will complete at age 41.

Meantime, he's been trying to accentuate the positive for a team that has limped to the finish line at 2-5-2.

"I like some part of our games. We improved from, I guess, the mid-season, especially of late, the last few games," said Chara after Sunday's 4-2 loss to Ottawa in the regular-season finale. "We know there's always room to improve and hopefully we will do that as we move into the playoffs."

It's hard to believe seven years have gone by since Chiarelli made Chara his franchise cornerstone.

A free agent at age 29, Chara could have jumped some contender's bandwagon like Marian Hossa did, bouncing from Pittsburgh to Detroit to Chicago in less than three years. But Chara wanted to build something. Driven to win like the all-time greats, he didn't settle on his career contract or the Norris Trophy he won as the NHL's top defenseman in 2009.

The native of Trencin, Czechoslovakia, who was chosen 56th overall by the N.Y. Islanders and traded at age 24 to Ottawa, spent part of his time learning the pro game in the minors with the Lowell LockMonsters before most Bruins fans had ever heard of him. He went minus-27 in both of his first two full NHL seasons; his only minus season since was his first in Boston (-21). Since coach Claude Julien arrived, Chara has been a plus-136. Since joining the Bruins seven years ago, he has only missed 15 regular-season games and one out of 63 playoff games.

That's a tremendous amount of plus hockey to build upon. Whatever his limitations as a player, the standards of professionalism, consistency and improvement that Chara brought have served the Bruins more than well.

"For 'Z,' he's obviously a very valuable player — one of the best if not the best defenseman in the league. Obviously you want him to be firing on all cylinders," said Chiarelli. "Like the rest of them, he's got to get his game back and he's got to be what 'Z' is about — a strong defensive game, nothing fancy, big shot, a lot of straight lines. "» What he does a lot of guys follow, so he's got a lot of experience and we expect him to get his game where it has to be."

Mick Colageo covers hockey for The Standard-Times. Contact him at mcolageo@s-t.com and visit Rink Rap at blogs.southcoasttoday.com/bruins